memory_betafandomcom-20200223-history
Vulcan history
This page details the history of the Vulcan civilization and their Vulcan state. Ancient history There is some controversy over the origin of the Vulcan species, and on whether their homeworld is actually their birth place, or if it was colonized some six million years ago. ( ) Much of Vulcan pre-history was a mixture of myth and legends, one of which stated that their race was seeded by the s, or the race that Sargon belonged to. Another myth spoke of the Vhorani, who were known as the Ancient Ones, who came from the Wellspring of Creation known as Vorta Vor. Once they reached the harsh world that was the planet Vulcan, they created the Vulcan species. ( ) Among the Vulcan species, it was believed that the first of their kind, known as The Wanderer, was the one who developed speech and the first word. These same primitive Vulcans witnessed the intense damage done to their world by their sun's solar flare, which wiped out much of the planet's surface and transformed it into its desert form. In the aftermath, the planet was divided into numerous clans that sought refuge in the few locations left on the now-desolate world. Locations that held water were prized, but the dangers of daytime travel meant that it was difficult to wage conflict when the sun was up. However, one clan, which possessed the "Eye" - an inner eyelid - held an advantage, as they were able to travel during the day. They attacked the well spring at Pelasht. After taking it, they decided to hold their advantage by allowing other clans to breed with their women, so that those clans' offspring would develop the trait. In exchange, they gained access to resources, as well as the other clans' own unique advantages, such as the ability to touch minds. This primitive form of eugenics program formed the basis of modern Vulcan marriage customs. In time, various telepathic and other traits spread throughout the race. ( ) Early in Vulcan history, their planet was occupied by the demonic Furies, who ruled much of the Alpha Quadrant and Beta Quadrant. ( ) Like many other species, such as Humans and Klingons, the Vulcans were cowed into submission by their masters' fear-generating technology. The Fury of Vulcan was recorded by the testimony of many witnesses when a Vulcan warrior known as Torkas of the Vehm killed 97 of his own village through the use of a leaf bladed Toth spear before he was killed. Ok'San was the most of the despised of all the demonic Furies. The Furies left Vulcan when they met the Unclean menace, and knowledge of the Furies disappeared, forming a racial fear in the Vulcans and other races the Furies had ruled over. ( ) Age of antiquity The ancient Vulcan people were divided into tribal lines and consisted of extended clans that were organized together for protection against the harsh environment of the desert. These tribes existed in a nomadic fashion, where they traveled between different reservoirs of water. Some eventually established permanent settlements in areas that provided adequate food, water and shelter, these sites being the source of the first city-states. Much of this part of Vulcan history is uncertain, as there were many legends that spoke of angry gods, wars in the sky and tales of psionic might. The only trace of such events were the scattered ruins that dotted the planets' surface. It is believed that certain Vulcans demonstrated moderate amounts of psionic talents at this time, their abilities making them revered by their people, who viewed such individuals as favored by their deities. Such Vulcans were often focal points within their tribes, and the source of many alliances between the different families, though some resorted to violence in order to acquire such individuals. In addition, there was violent and bitter competition for natural resources, leading to fierce conflict. ( ) During the early eras of Vulcan civilization, it was difficult to gather sufficient metals and ores. This was not because the world was resource-poor, but rather because valuable minerals were located too deep below the surface to be easily mined. As such, Vulcan metalsmiths had to work extremely hard in order to craft the items that they needed, from simple weapons to agricultural tools. This changed as mindsciences developed that allowed adepts to locate veins of ores and pull them from the crust psychokinetically. ( ) At one point during ancient Vulcan history, the world was invaded by a race of non-corporeal entities that relished in causing death and destruction. Conventional weapons were incapable of killing these creatures. Fortunately, the Vulcan S'chn R'xun Sajik created the Sword of Sajik, which was used to slay many of the creatures, eventually driving them away from Vulcan. ( ) Eventually, Vulcan began to develop weapons of mass destruction, including atomic weaponry. Initially, these weapons were used frequently, but such use did not provoke a worldwide disarmament program, as was the case on other worlds. ( ) These ancient atomic wars ravaged the surface of Vulcan, permanently distorting a region of its magnetic field, and leading to frequent energy discharges in the red sands. ( ) Rather than stop the use of such destructive weapons, the ancient Vulcans instead refined their usage to create "cleaner" weapons, such as "neutron bombs" designed to kill the inhabitants of a city but leave the surrounding region unharmed. ( ) Records indicated that even at their most violent phase of their existence where they committed a number of atrocities in the name of conquest, no Vulcan had ever hunted another or treated their brothers as if they were beasts. ( }}) Experiments in space flight technology began early on Vulcan, with legend stating that the first flight-capable starship was built in the city of Devlarmby the Warlord D'Vir. It was believed that the first to reach the stars would gain ultimate status and a crucial advantage over the other factions. Many petitioned to meet with D'Vir, with some negotiating for use of his developing ship and others attempting to sabotage it. Ultimately, a rival Warlord by the name of Nu'Val decided to stop the project at all costs and attacked the settlement. Archaeological records indicate that a devastating air strike, with neutron bombs employed, killed the one million inhabitants of the city and turned it into the ruined "City of Shadows". ( ) This was thought to have occured in the year 855 B.C.. ( ) Despite this failed attempt, others strove to attain space flight, such as the House of Suvin, which allied with Lady Evekh in order to exploit the minerals of T'Khut. Suvin managed to complete the hulls of two starships, with instruments being installed by various lesser Houses. However, Lady Evekh's desire for the Last Thought technique from a union of her grandson Mahak with T'Thelaih led to the latter going mad with rage when she discovered the true purpose of the union. Lady Evekh's High House was exterminated, which set back the first manned landing of T'Khut by fifty standard years. Psi-communication technology was also lost, and had to be bred and rediscovered once more. ( ) Eventually, T'Khut was colonized and mined, whereupon the Vulcan race went off to the outer planets within their star system. It is known that several small wars broke out on Vulcan at the time of the first successful landing, due to the shifting balances of power that were always feared by the various factions. Marriages at this time were conducted, not out of love, but eugenics, in order to breed specific psionic talents. Eventually, T'Khut's surface was scarred with mines, and the wars on Vulcan continued for centuries. Limited sub-light space travel continued within the star system as the Vulcans began mining from the asteroid belts and the other worlds around their star. This period became known to later Vulcans as the Age of Expansion, and the petty kingdoms of Vulcan eventually achieved an unwilling unified peace with one another. Warfare and terrorism, however, eventually began to spread into space around Vulcan itself. The destruction of the mining ship Rasha at Ashif Station sparked hostilities once more, with Mahn'heh Protectorate beginning its attacks against the Lalirh by detonating a matter/antimatter bomb at their orbital stations in the asteroid belts. New fires began to emerge on Vulcan as warfare once again consumed its surface. ( ) This era saw Vulcan society being torn between its earliest traditions and the lure of space travel. ( }}) It was known that Vulcan space travel was achieved as far back as the 3rd century. During that time, at least one group of Vulcans left their world and crash landed on a planetoid later known as Darien 224, where they formed a colony known as the Last-of-all-Cities. Retaining their warrior heritage and psionic technology, this isolated settlement remained unknown to the galaxy at large for two millennia. ( }}) By the 9th century, the Vulcans had also established a monastery on the world of P'Jem. ( ) : LUG sources indicate that the Vulcans attained warp travel in the 13th century, which contradicts both of the above colonizations, though its possible that they were made by sublight, "sleeper ship" means. Early Vulcan also developed several advanced psionic technologies, including psionic weapons such as the Tol par-doj and Vorl-tak. Most of these technologies were lost during the Time of Awakening. ( ; }}) During these early periods, tribes of Vulcans were known to have possessed significant martial skills, especially in the area of archery. The arid climate of their home world was conductive to accuracy over long distances, though the heavier gravity led to some challenges. However, those that learned to shoot an arrow on Vulcan were capable of using the skill easily on other worlds. ( ) Time of awakening In the 3rd millennium BC, some Vulcans began to mentally train themselves to suppress their emotions. ( ) One of the leading Vulcan philosophers in logic and science was T'Plana-Hath who was the head of a school of historians in ShirKahr. ( ) By the 4th century, Vulcan was rife with violence and war, as the Vulcan people fought one another in countless battles that stained the sand of the deserts with their green blood. Wars arose from the desire for conquest and need for water resources, which were scarce on the planet. The most well-recorded of the Vulcan warlords was the tyrant Sudoc, who gained power by assassinating the previous ruling leader. Using his powerful psionic abilities and skilled tactical mind, he led his vicious barbarian armies in campaigns that dominated most of the homeworld. Those who resisted were slaughtered, and those who fell under his rule were subjected to telepathic "adjustments" to make them loyal. ( ) Into this time was born a boy named Surak, in the city state of ShiKahr. His home city was one of Sudoc's chief rivals, and the warlord attempted to assassinate the ruling generals, who included members of Surak's family. ( ). Surak became a skilled computer scientist, but his creations were used as weapons of war, which provoked him into developing the goals of logic and peace. ( }}) In the desert, gazing upon Mount Seleya, Surak received an epiphany when he encountered an Underlier. Afterwards, he returned to civilization and did not initially speak of his experience. He later met numerous sects and groups in order to learn from them, and to develop his own philosophies, which he began to write daily, and to spread through the populace. ( ) According to legend, he also gained healing techniques and teachings from the Adepts of Seleya, along with the Adepts of Gol. ( }}) He formed a circle of colleagues that sought to wage peace and master emotions, with this group consisting of Jarok, Nirak, T'mor and Vithek. While the Vulcan people were initially resistant, the teachings of peace and logic began to rapidly take hold, eventually ending the period known as the "Years of Chaos". ( ; }}) During his time, Surak gained another pupil, S'task. ( ) :Other novels, such as ''The Devil's Heart, state that Surak's father was Stef, who was killed in battle on the Ishaya Plains when Surak was a boy.'' Eventually, the chief councilors of Lhai called upon Surak to advise their emissaries to Irik, in order to prevent a full-scale war from erupting between the two nation-states. Surak gladly joined the emissaries and shut himself with them for a day and a night, whereupon he sent them on their way. After two days they returned, and the Lhai councilors were shocked to see that they brought with them the High Council of Irik, who had signed a peace treaty following a week-long negotiation. Each nation made major concessions to the other, and many were dazed at this remarkable change, except for Surak. His peace ultimately held until the unification of the entire planet, despite the maneuvering of various belligerent power blocs in both nations. ( ) The warlords of other nations began to lose, and the captured territories of Sudoc began to fracture as his empire disintegrated. Sudoc's rule and empire finally ended with the tyrant's death, though members of his loyal cadre did and survive formed the Children of Ket-Cheleb, who were led by the warrior Tellus. ( ) At some point, a group of devotees to the new Vulcan philosophy of logic decided to seek perfection by developing a method of removing their emotions and sealing them within bottles. However, this process diminished the soul of the individual and thus the device that accomplished this was destroyed. The philosophers abandoned the experiment and devoted their lives to teaching the value of logic. The bottles that contained the removed emotions survived through the centuries, and in honor of their mentors, the Vulcan people created a shrine on the planet Beta IV where the artifacts remained hidden in Room 101, where they were meant to be preserved for all of life. ( ) First contact In the climate that followed, the Vulcan people were still fractured into various groups while Surak spread his message. It was at this time that the species made their first contact with another form of life, the people of Etosha, who appeared at Shikahr before the assembled delegates as a peaceful race. In actuality, the Etoshans were pirates who used deception to capture slaves and hold planetary leaders for ransom. At Vulcan, they took hold of numerous leaders, along with Surak's student S'task. Surak himself was spared this fate due to transportation difficulties at a port facility, which prevented him from attending the meeting. The conflict that followed, known as "Ahkh", or "the War", reduced all previous conflicts to simple skirmishes as the Vulcan species worked to defeat the invaders. S'task proved instrumental, liberating many of his kinsmen and killing thousands of pirates in his escape from their vessel. While primitive compared to the advanced technology of the pirates, the Vulcans had well-developed skills in the psionic arts, which allowed them to unravel the metal ships of the enemy or set their pilots on suicidal courses. Through such actions, Vulcan freed itself from the invaders that had terrorized them. ( ) Sundering Though Surak had worked hard to ensure peace and spread logic, the Etoshan invasion had taken their toll on the Vulcan race, which once more became divided over the issue of pacifism. ( ) Numerous factions still competed with one another, including the Northeastern Alliance and the Southern Hegemony, both of whom wanted to acquire dominance over the other by developing space capable warships. The climate was further complicated by the vicious raids and attacks by the aggressive Te-Vikram Brotherhood that lived deep in the deserts. All these actions threatened to destabilize the planet and bring about the destruction of Vulcan-kind. While Surak still believed he could save Vulcan, the very real chance of self-annihilation prompted him travel to ShiKahr in order to meet the engineer Karatek. Befriending him, Surak asked the engineer to re-purpose the starships he was creating into long-range colony ships, in order to continue their civilization elsewhere in case Vulcan destroyed itself. He even gave Karatek a special psionic coronet to record his memories of the journey in order to bring it back to Vulcan, if it still existed. ( }}) :Varying books portray a different period of the Sundering. The ''Vulcan's Soul books portray it as an inter-racial warfare, while Spock's World states that it was an invasion by Orion pirates.'' While Surak managed to convince the various competing factions to allow the conversion of the starships, a surprise attack came on the day of the launch. Chaos ensued, and both families and friends were separated, with some accidentally being left behind while others mistakenly boarded the transport ships. ( }}) One such group was Tellus and his Children of Ket-Cheleb; Surak attempted to dissuade them from leaving but he failed. The failure would forever haunt him, and his colleague Jarok never let him forget it. ( ) Remaining groups that opposed Surak's logic fought a final war with the rest of Vulcan. They were known as "Those who marched beneath the Raptor's wing", who were eventually forced to leave the planet. Eventually, Surak died as a result of radiation sickness as he stood at Mount Seleya. ( ) This era became known as the Sundering, and was one of the most traumatic periods to befall Vulcan civilization. ( ) Though Vulcan survived, the colony ships in space splintered, with many being lost along the way. ( ) The largest contingent traveled through a wormhole to a distant star system, with a habitable world they called Romulus, and its sister planet, Remus. They were the genesis of the Romulan race, who visited cruel slavery on some of their kin by leaving them on Remus, where genetic engineering was used to create the offshoot race called the Remans. A small group attempted to flee Remus and later crash-landed on a hostile planet, where they formed their own colony and called themselves the Watraii. ) Other of the colony ships departed under the command of Admiral Debrune and formed their own colonies, naming themselves after their leader, though none of these colonies survived. However, at least one branch of this fleet made it into the Rigel system, where it forcibly conquered Rigel V and became known as the Rigelians. ( ) : See Romulan history to see the details of the Vulcans-in-Exile. Golden age As a result of these actions that were less than five centuries before the mid 23rd century, the Vulcan people barely managed to avoid self-extinction as a result of their intraspecies wars. Following the wake of this disaster, their kind began to develop a system of disciplined logic which had eliminated the curse of their barbaric heritage. ( ) With the departure of the more violent element of Vulcan society, the remainder of the Vulcan people were left to flourish in a new era of peace and logic. An adherent of Surak's teachings known as rose to prominence and formalized the unity of his species by creating the Theorems of Governance, which merged the traditionalist functions of Vulcans past with the new peaceful approaches needed to form a world government. As Tu-Surak spread throughout Vulcan, the Great Houses saw the wisdom in Selok's proposal and approved it. This unified the entire race under the principles of logic, pacifism and emotional suppression, and drove the species into an era of scientific discovery and enlightenment. What followed was the Vulcan Golden Age, where they turned their former aggressive tendencies to scientific pursuits. Geologists mapped the unstable tectonic plates of their world, and built geothermal plants that tapped the planet's heat for energy. Chemists used this new energy source to create desalinization plants that replenished the wells in Vulcan cities. Ecologists put their thoughts to slowing down the spread of the desert, seeding new plants and rescuing old ones, thus preserving the dwindling supply of fertile land on their homeworld. Thus, for the first time in their collective history, there was enough food, water and energy for the Vulcan race, with the development of hydroponics removing famine entirely from their society. In addition, they attained space-flight capabilities, but were limited to their own star system. ( ) In the newly created Great Library, itself a wing of the Vulcan Science Academy, the Vulcans began to archive the collective knowledge of their race. They began probing ancient archives of forbidden knowledge, ruined cities filled with lost inscriptions, as well as the the top secret projects of the many warlords. This process that took over a century to complete. The cataloging and correlation of all this information led to remarkable developments in the field of genetics, physics and mathematics. In addition to the collection of knowledge, the teachings of Surak and his counterparts led to the self-exploration of the Vulcan mind. Anthropology, sociology, psychology and pure logic made great strides during this period, with many Vulcans founding schools of thought that survive to the modern age. This exploration of the mind led to the challenge of studying the ancient psionic arts, techniques once known only to elite adepts. Where once it was restricted, the knowledge became free to all of Vulcan, with tests made on children at a young age in order to chart their talent. Those that showed promise were selected to study in a monastery or a university in order to nurture their growing power. After two hundred years, almost every Vulcan had some form of psionic control and ability. Techniques such as calm, concentration and meditation helped cement the peaceful ways of Surak to the point that new generations had forgotten that violence was an option for them in the past. ( ) The peace of the Golden Age was shattered in the year 1270, when a wormhole formed near Vulcan itself. From it came an armada of invading starships that attacked a peaceful Vulcan. The attackers did not respond to any form of communication, did not reveal themselves visually, and destroyed themselves with atomic weaponry rather than be captured. While the stories of the Children of Ket-Cheleb had long been forgotten, some Vulcan theorists believed these attackers to have been the proud warrior Vulcans that had departed in the exodus long ago. Using their own starships, the Vulcans defended themselves, and the Vulcan Council ultimately decided to protect their race rather than retreat to an impregnable fortress beneath their homeworld's crust. Fortunately, the wormhole opened irregularly, limiting the attackers' ability to send new fleets and ships. The Vulcan Council later assembled their own forces rapidly, creating logical surveillance patterns and convoy techniques that tracked down the last of the invader bases within the Vulcan star system. A grim-but-silent war was fought, with deadly tactics based on logic being used against their attackers. After a century of constant warfare, the wormhole that linked the invaders' territory to Vulcan finally closed and ended the conflict, with the Vulcans never discovering the identity of their attackers. ( ) Despite the devastating war, new scientific achievements had been made, particularly in the field of robotics, computers, and atomic power plants. Other societal changes included the removal of the pagan festival of Rumarie. The Vulcans' limited space technologies took a great leap when the scientist T'Vran discovered the secrets of warp drive in 1440. ( ) T'Vran's team was responsible for the construction and testing of the first warp engine, using unmanned, automated probes. These were successful enough that T'Vran herself participated in a manned flight. Following this event, the Vulcan people quickly began the construction of faster-than-light exploratory vessels in order to begin charting the regions around their homeworld. The Vulcans soon established colonies on worlds such as T'Khut, Kethri and Mevet. This new age of exploration lasted six hundred years. A secondary aim was locating the hostile force that attacked them earlier, but the Vulcans did not discover the Romulan Star Empire during this time. As their first contact with an alien race turned out to be violent, the Vulcan exploration corps had strict instructions to not make contact with other species until all gathered data could be analyzed. ( ) This era of expansion led them to encounter a number of worlds, including Haurok leh-keh, with their survey determining that its population consisted of a matriarchy, with the male sex being viewed as the weaker of the pair. ( |Beneath the Raptor's Wing}}) Early contacts with numerous primitive and violent races provoked the Vulcan belief in remaining hidden from such races until they "matured" or developed themselves. This would later form the initial basis for the Prime Directive. ( ) During their encounters in space, the Vulcans encountered the Andorian Empire and were distressed by the violent and emotional nature of the Andorian species, to the point that they sought to guide that race. However, the Vulcans' actions were seen as both overt and covert attempts to coerce and control the Andorian people, who reacted volently. This sparked a series of conflicts and skirmishes between the two races that ended with the signing of the Tau Ceti Accords and left a state of cold war between the two governments. ( ) This was not the Vulcans' only attempt at guiding other species. They encountered the dilithium-rich world of Coridan III and sought to help the native inhabitants develop a stable world government. While such an act would seemingly be against the policy of non-interference of developing worlds, the Vulcans logically reasoned that Coridan's resources would benefit the Vulcan government, and that by stabilising the planet they could facilitate a mining agreement. This was crucial to the Vulcan state, due to the significant economic and material gains, as well as continued tensions from Andoria. Vulcan's close economic and political ties with the Coridan government spawned dissident rebellious factions, who in turn were supported by the Andorians, who also sought to acquire Coridan's resources. This cold war for Coridan continued for many years. ( ) In addition to conflict with the Andorians, the Vulcans also had skirmishes with the Tellarites, with the two species reverse-engineering Vulcan technology into their starships. ( |Beneath the Raptor's Wing}}) Guiding humanity The Vulcans also kept watch on the planet Earth, and they may have reached the world as early as the 19th century. However, continuous warfare on the planet's surface made the Vulcan's weary of any contact, and they kept their activities discreet until the 20th century. At that point, Vulcan exploration programs were cut back due to the expansionist tyranny surrounding the planet Vega. ( ) During the early 1900s, an unmanned Vulcan probe prevented a cometary fragment from wiping out half of central Europe by diverting the body, forcing it to explode over an uninhabited region of Siberia known as Tunguska. Though humans remained unaware of this activity, between 1955 and 2018 there were at least eighteen legitimate two-dimensional photographs taken of the Vulcan probe ships. These were without exception dismissed as frauds and hoaxes. ( }}) In 1990, a Vulcan trade fleet was passing by the Lambda Sector, with their ships visible by the primitive Hubble telescope over Earth. However, Gary Seven, who sought to preserve the timeline, sabotaged the telescope, thus preventing humanity from establishing first contact with the Vulcans too early, unbeknownst to either species. Seven felt that mankind was not ready to meet extraterrestrial intelligences.. ( ) The Vulcans continued to observe the conflicts that raged over Earth's surface in the early 21st century, starting from the Eugenics Wars, when the DY-100 class Botany Bay was launched, to the eventual cataclysm of World War III. The Vulcan Science Academy suspected that the Humans would ultimately destroy themselves in warfare. ( ) According to the Vulcans, they had supposedly mastered the use of the warp drive by 2019. ( }}) On reference stardate 0/2001 the Vulcan scientist Sardax proved the feasibility of interstellar travel by using base camps to extend long-range exploration. This led to the creation of a number of supply and support colonies founded in a ten light-year radius around Vulcan, with succeeding generations of colonists continuing this wave of expansion. ( ) During the mid-22nd century, the Vulcans began to suffer the predatory attentions of the Klingon Empire. Many raids were conducted by Raptor class scouts, a designation that the Vulcans initially gave the ships due to their physical nature and combat roles. While the strategy initially worked, the Vulcans quickly learned the simple tactics employed by the Klingons and began to avoid telltale signs of such traps, such as distress beacons in asteroid belts, journeying through the upper atmosphere in Class J giants or areas that were suffering from ion storms. The Klingons eventually turned their attentions to other neighboring civilizations. ( ) At some point, the Vulcan Science Academy authorised a probe mission to chart gravitic anomalies in the Alpha Centauri system. However, three months before reaching its destination, a new order was sent from the communications division of the Vulcan Science Academy that diverted it to the Sol system in order to track wormhole eddies, which the suspected were generated by Jupiter's intersection with its sun. ( }}) In 2063, the Vulcan science vessel Vesaya, led by Captain Sevak, was dispatched to the Sol system after detecting a warp signature. ( ) This led to the eventual first contact between the Vulcans and Humans on April 5th, 2063, when the T'Plana-Hath detected a manned warp flight from the planet Earth and became the first extraterrestrials to formally make contact with Humans. The T'Plana Hath landed in Montana, the launch site of the warp ship, to greet its creator, Zefram Cochrane. ( ) : In the Spaceflight Chronology and novels which draw from its timeline, first contact between Humans and Vulcans occurred in 2065, when a disabled Vulcan ship sent a distress call to the [[UNSS Amity|UNSS ''Amity]]. The Amity rescued the crew and towed the ship back to Vulcan. In the SFC, this marked humans' first encounter with a truly alien species (as opposed to the virtually human Centaurans). At least one novel (Spock's World) contradicts this and states that humans had encountered Andorians first, which allowed humans to shed their xenophobia before meeting the Vulcans. The specifics of both these versions have been rendered obsolete by later canon, but adapted versions of some events may still have taken place.'' While the Vulcan Science Academy had believed that humanity had either destroyed itself or reduced itself to the Stone Age, the contact made by Sevak proved otherwise. Captain Sevak later returned to Vulcan and spoke to the Vulcan Council, where he voiced the opinion that despite their emotional nature, the human race was advanced enough for further relations. While there were fears of cultural contamination, as well as exposure to their emotions, this was drowned out by the desire for peaceful negotiations. Thus, the Vulcans decided to make further contact and help guide humanity out of ruin and possibly bring an era of peace and rationality to the species. ( ) It is known that an Earth Franklin series probe encountered a Vulcan colony on Stardate 0/6511.12, and that the Vulcans substantially improved the design of human warp drives. ( ) In the same year, it is stated that the UNSS Amity encountered a distress call from a "non-violent alien vessel" adrift in orbit around Neptune, which turned out to be a Vulcan starship. This act led to the rescue of the 42 surviving Vulcans, including its captain Sparon. ( , ) : The FASA RPG indicates that it was the discovery by the ''Franklin series probe that led to first contact with the Vulcans.'' After first contact, it took decades for humans to accept Vulcans on Earth. ( ) With their new Human allies, the Vulcan High Command established the Vulcan Advisory Council, which coordinated with United Earth Starfleet Command and monitored Earths progress. The Vulcans refused to provide their technology to Earth, which resulted in Earth's first warp five starship launching a century after Humanity first developed warp technology. For some Humans this was a source of much resentment; they believed that the Vulcans had impeded their progress. ( ) This period lasted for decades, as the Vulcans believed that mankind was not ready for the dangers inherent in exploring other worlds and intended to curtail their expansion and establishment in the galactic neighborhood until they were deemed ready. ( |Beneath the Raptor's Wing}}) Despite this, the Vulcans were crucial in protecting their Human allies when one of their exploratory vessels made first contact with the Andorians. The Terran ship came under fire from their Andorian counterpart, with the hostilities between the two nearly erupting into war, on Stardate 0/7511.29. While the Terrans prepared for war, the Vulcans managed to convince Earth's leaders to negotiate with the growing Andorian Empire. On Stardate 0/7703, the First Alpha Centauri Conference was held and helped maintain galactic peace when Vulcan diplomats convinced the Andorians that there was little to gain in entering into a war against Earth and her allies. ( ) : The FASA material contradicts elements from '' which shows that the Andorians were on hostile terms with the Vulcans and that no major point of contact had been made between Earth and Andoria before that point.'' Later, between Stardate 0/8110 and 0/8206, the first joint scientific project was made between Earth, Vulcan and Alpha Centauri which showed tangible benefits for the three planets when research probes were launched from their homeworlds. In the same year, a series of meetings took place on Vulcan in order to establish a unifying single government for the five major space-faring civilizations. However, this failed when its primary goals and policies were not defined. Despite this being the case, diplomats continued to work on the roles and responsibilities if such a government came into formation. ( ) : FASA once again contradicts events from ''Enterprise, which showed that the Vulcans were not involved in large relations with their neighbors, though elements of the above material may have occured in the background (though this is speculation).'' 22nd century As far back as 2105, a Vulcan outpost was established on Berengaria VII that consisted of pacifists and scientists, who studied the world's diverse ecosystem for pharmacological reasons. ( |Beneath the Raptor's Wing}}) Following first contact with Humans, the Vulcans began to form a close relationship with the inhabitants of Earth. In the early part of the 22nd century, a physician of the Vulcan Science Academy known as Sobon joined the scientific contingent working on Earth. Unlike his comrades, Sobon advocated a closer cooperative relationship with the humans and championed the cause of sharing technology with them in certain fields, such as medicine. It was largely through his efforts that human medical science made several leaps in a short span of time and led to gradual increase in the life span of mankind during this century. ( ) By the mid-22nd century, the Vulcans were a regional power, involved in an ongoing conflict with the neighboring Andorian Empire. Meanwhile, Earth's first warp five starship, the ''Enterprise'' (NX-01), was launched in 2151. While reluctant to allow humanity to begin its period of exploration, the Vulcans consented to the launch of the Enterprise in order to avoid a diplomatic incident with the neighbouring Klingon Empire after the crash of their courier Klaang on Earth. When the Enterprise was launched, the Vulcans stationed subcommander T'Pol on the ship to aid and monitor the humans' journey. ( ) Sometime before 2151 the Vulcans established a monitoring station beneath the P'Jem monastery, which was tasked with spying on the Andorians. In that year a team of Andorians, led by Shran, and Captain Jonathan Archer of the Enterprise discovered the listening post. Shortly after the monastery was destroyed by orbital bombardment from the Andorians, and the incident eventually led to the dismissal of the Vulcan First Minister. ( ) After the Xindi attack on Earth, a new wave of xenophobia erupted, which threatened the relationship between Humans and Vulcans. ( ) In fact, many Humans believed that the Vulcans held mankind back from their true potential of being explorers. However, the Vulcans considered Earth to be one of their most important allies in over a hundred years. ( ) Vulcan reformation Inside the Vulcan government, the Vulcan High Command grew in power, with Administrator V'Las attempting to persecute the new Syrrannites movement. By 2154, V'Las attempted to provoke a war with the Andorian Empire, stating that intelligence had gathered evidence of the Andorians using Xindi technology to create a superweapon that would be used to destroy Vulcan. Trying to frame the Syrranites, V'Las had the Earth Embassy on Vulcan bombed, which brought the Enterprise to Vulcan to investigate. Not long after, the Enterprise discovered the truth of the matter, and Commander Charles Tucker III and Ambassador Soval went to warn the Andorians of the impending invasion. Meanwhile, on Vulcan, Captain Archer discovered the Kir'Shara. With V'Las's deception uncovered he was forced from power, while the discovery of the Kir'Shara brought about a new age in Vulcan history as the Vulcan people rediscovered the true uncorrupted teachings of Surak. ( }}) Despite the toppling of V'Las's administration, there were still certain Vulcans loyal to his ideals operating on the Vulcan homeworld in the years that followed. ( |Beneath the Raptor's Wing}}) In 2155, following the discovery of a powerful Romulan weapon capable of remotely taking control of Vulcan ships, Administrator T'Pau decided to remove the Vulcan Defense Directorate from the front lines. This was for two reasons: to cover up the genetic relationship the Vulcans had with the Romulans, and also to stop themselves from undergoing aggressive actions that would take them away from the ideals of Surak. The Vulcans' removal from the conflict caused a great deal of resentment from their Coalition members. They did, however, provide a highly sophisticated warp detection system at Alpha Centauri and at Sol in order to provide early warning in case the Romulans attacked. This proved to be ineffective, as the Romulans later struck the Human Deneva colony, joint Vulcan-Starfleet Berengia colony and the Andorian Threllvia colony, where they massacred the populations of those worlds. ( |Beneath the Raptor's Wing}}) The Federation In 2155 the Vulcan government signed the Coalition Compact, which made them officially part of the Coalition of Planets, alongside Earth, Andoria and Tellar. ( ) The Vulcans also supported a closer union of the five worlds at the Babel Five-Power Conference in 2159, which was first proposed by T'Shenn. Though other races differed on this opinion, Vulcan diplomats such as T'Shenn and Suvok who played a critical role in the writing of the Terran Conventions in 2160 on Epsilon Eridani. ( ) At some unknown point, Vulcan scientists such as Sunok were responsible for he refinement of transporter technology which led to these devices being virtually impossible to malfunction except for operator error. ( ) In 2161 the Coalition worlds joined together to from the United Federation of Planets. ( }}) At the time, Vulcan nearly became the capital of this new Federation, though the fear that this would be culturally dangerous for their species led to Solkar and other conservative elements of the Vulcan Council ordering Suvok to reject the idea. Instead, Suvok chose Earth to be the capital, highlightin humanity's pride and curiousity as vital qualities that could be harnessed for the United Federation of Planets. Once agreed, Vulcan joined the Federation following the ratification of the Articles of Federation, though conservative elements warned against much involvement in off-world affairs. A great stir was also caused when a young Vulcan matriarch known as T'Pau refused a seat on the Federation Council and instead devoted her time to her own people. Suvok instead volunteered to take her place on the Council, and Vulcan became a core member of the Federation. Despite this, many Vulcans were hesitant about serving in the Federation Starfleet, as they believed such an organization would lead to violence. ( ) 23rd century During the course of the 23rd century, many attempts were made to place Vulcan in a more comfortable position as a valuable part of the United Federation of Planets with such efforts being championed by the likes of Sarek. However, there were many voices that called for Vulcan to return to its traditional isolation. In 2248, an attack on the Sarek family led to genuine fears that Vulcan would become a closed planet once more. The situation was successfully resolved despite the warning of the fears of outsiders with the power of the Vulcan opposition party waning thus not leading to Vulcan closing off itself to other worlds. ( ) Despite the years of peaceful cooperation within the Federation, the Vulcans contemplated at one point leaving the interstellar state when numerous groups, for various reasons, believed that the Vulcan race's ideals were not being fulfilled through their continued contact with Humans. A Referendum was called and a debate made, with the idea being ultimately rejected, allowing the Vulcans to remain with the Federation. ( ) In 2268, the Vulcan crew of the science ship T'Pau were believed to have been killed at Alnath while supporting an archaeological dig on that planet. However, it was later discovered that the Alnathian pyramid had granted the crew their innermost wish and allowed them to shed their corporeal forms and become beings of pure thought. ( ) Alternate reality In 2258 of the Kelvin timeline, the Vulcan homeworld and six billion were destroyed when Romulan terrorist drilled to Vulcan's core and launched Red matter and created a black hole that consumed the planet. The remnants of the Vulcan race, some ten thousand, soon founded a new homeworld, naming it New Vulcan and the government the Confederacy of Surak.( }}; ) Vulcan civilization would thrive on New Vulcan over the next 3,000 years. By approximately 5259, a statue of Spock was built on the planet. While many of the surrounding monuments were larger than life, the monument of Spock was life size. This was at Spock's request, as he felt a larger than life monument would not be logical. ( }}) 24th century The Vulcan homeworld became infected by the "demonic" entities found within artifacts from the Hydrillian sector. Numerous Vulcans became possessed by the entities and spread the infection; however, it was eventually contained and the artifacts sealed within the Vulcan Science Academy, where they remained under study. ( ) Despite generations of social differences and open hostility between the Vulcan and Romulan people, the legendary Vulcan ambassador Spock began in the mid-24th century to attempt to bring about a "reunification" of the species. However, on one occasion, this nearly brought about the conquest of the Vulcan homeworld by the Romulan military, who attempted to use the concept as a smokescreen to smuggle troops onto Vulcan. This attempt failed, but did not deter Spock in his goal in bring about bringing the Sundered together in peace with their Vulcan brothers. ( ) In 2377, the disciples of the Vulcan N'Kal attempted to cure their master of Bendii syndrome through the use of Borg nanoprobes. However, they lost control of the nanotechnology. Rather than assimilate N'Kal and his followers, the incident created a splinter group of the Borg Collective known as the Wardens. This group combined the Borg's desire for perfection with N'Kal's thirst for logic, leading to the spread of the faction within the Federation after establishing a foothold on Vulcan. Through the use of their cranio-necrotizer, they kept in contact with one another and infected others with their unique strain of nanoprobes. The conspiracy was ultimately uncovered and stopped by the crew of the . Rather than admit to such a crisis emerging from a Federation member world, Starfleet claimed that it was the latest attempt at assimilation by the Borg. ( ) In 2381, the planet Vulcan was one of many worlds that suffered from the insidious infiltration and control of the dark matter based intelligence known as the . Norinda, a representation of the Totality, attempted to appeal to the Vulcan's sense of logic and managed to create a stronghold within that region of space through projections formed by the Totality in order to enforce their will. When Joseph Kirk sacrificed his life to defeat Norinda, all the Vulcans on the planet were returned to their physical existence, as they were never tempted by the Totality's offer of peace. ( ) Alternate timelines In one alternate timeline where Humanity never evolved, the Vulcans continued a similar pattern of development but never joined a unified Federation of planets. After encountering the Klingon Empire, numerous wars erupted between the two powers, with the Vulcans always emerging the victor and allowing the Klingons to return to their territory. This continued several times until finally the Klingons attempted diplomatic negotiations, headed by . The Vulcans managed to convince the Klingons to make peace with their neighbors, which included the Ri'ani. However, the Romulans disguised one of their agents as a Vulcan and lulled the Klingons into a state of complacency, allowing the spy to strike the Klingon homeworld. The Klingons saw the Vulcans as traitors and liars, and war was only prevented by a treaty that confined the Vulcans to their world and a permanent neutral status. The Vulcans of this timeline shared many of the normal characteristics of the Vulcans of the normal timeline, but were known to be quite aggressive, making use of deception as well as sudden strikes from their merchant ships. Though they had made treaties of neutrality with both the Romulan Star Empire and the Klingon Empire, the Vulcans planned to ensure that those two powers would remain at war until both were destroyed. As such, they advised the Klingons to make use of suicidal tactics against the Romulans, and also made covert negotiations with other worlds in order to warn them of the threats of the Klingon and Romulan empires. They advised these worlds to lie low and provided technology in order for them to be ready for the future. This was a dangerous action made by the Vulcan High Council, as if the Romulans or the Klingons had discovered this deception, they would have attempted to destroy the Vulcan people. This timeline was erased when Captain James T. Kirk of the went back in time to ensure that Humans would develop on Earth. ( ) External link * History category:history History